Body Parts
by Machillusion
Summary: Reborn glanced at the young teenager's face and watched the different emotions flit through his eyes: a combination of love, hate, sadness, bitterness, nostalgia, and finally one last look that he couldn't place. (Hey! I got my account back, so please refer to Syn'phasia from now on. Thanks!)
1. The Inevitable

**Body Parts**

Rated: T+ (for now, subject to change)

Approximate chapters: 40

Summary:

 _Reborn glanced at the young teenager's face and watched the different expressions flit through his eyes: a combination of love, hate, sadness, bitterness, nostalgia, and finally one last look that he couldn't place. He stared a few more seconds to see if Tsuna would do anything, but his face didn't change. And for the first time in meeting his student, the cursed baby was perturbed that he couldn't understand a thing about him, not at all.  
_

On behalf of the Ninth Vongola boss, Nono, Reborn was sent to Sawada Tsunayoshi to be his home tutor to teach him the ways of the mafia. Tsuna seemed average at first-in fact, below average if you consider his abysmal grades-but then he started to notice something strange about the boy. And it seemed that no matter how much he dug and pried, the answers would either dissipate into thin air, or would lead to a dead end, where he would be placed right where he started from.

A/N: Hi everyone who reads this story, just a quick introduction. I've written on under the alias Syn'phasia. Sadly, I lost my account, so I never was able to update my works. I know a lot of people followed me, and a lot of people liked my stories, so it makes me sad to not be able to finish it on the account I created it under. However, if anyone is still interested, I am re-creating those stories here. I have already planned up (and pretty much written) up to chapter 28. I plan on updating weekly, or every other week, at least.

There is **R27** and **10027** (yeah, I know, rare right?) in this story, but its rather slow-paced. The real pairing is R27 though. I want to add smut to this story, but for some reason I can't ease my way into it. So it might turn into an M-rated fanfic, it may not. Time will tell. Oh, and there won't be any warnings because I don't want to spoil things for you guys.

Things might not make sense, but around chapter 10 (chapter 6 the earliest), you should have a jist of the basic plot. If you get tired of waiting and wondering what the hell is happening, you can go to Archives of Our Own and look for me there. I'm going to post it there too, and it has some spoilers there.

Enjoy.

* * *

A bird.

A dead bird.

There, at his window, was a dead robin. Its fragile wings hugged the bottom portion of the casement, and its body hovered over the flat side of his desk. It was a rather beautiful bird; its color was a mixture of a rusty maroon sword and a brilliant sanguine. The bird's eyes were wide open, revealing its blue pearls, and the legs were open and stiff, almost as if it were ready to attack. But the bird was dead, and there was nothing the poor creature could do to protect itself. Nothing.

The person sucked his teeth angrily as he picked up the cold carcass and quickly stormed into the bathroom next to his room. The smell of the rotting body was getting to him as always, but if he had thrown it out of his window, the maggots and flies were guaranteed to be there the next morning to terrorize him in his sleep, buzzing noisily by his ears. And if he had went outside to bury it, someone would notice, and damn it, he didn't want that.

He pushed open the door, hearing it creak with a soft whining sound-maybe the sound one would hear from an old wooden floor-and dropped the dead animal into the toilet, hearing the disconcerting splashing sound of the water and seeing the blood transform the once clear water into a soft vermilion color. He could only watch in horrid fascination as the bird was pushed down into the small hole, its head decapitating from its body before falling into the harsh tunnel of water and god knows what else.

The person was about to wash his hands; quite frankly, the smell of blood bothered him-and so did the feel-and he wanted to wash it off as soon as possible. He wanted to feel... _clean_ again. The blood would prevent such a thing [that] from happening. But first, he needed to check something.

He placed the palm of his hand to his mouth and swiped his tongue along the length of it. For a second, the person didn't taste anything particular; that is, until it got to the back of his throat. All of a sudden, a burst of flavors and emotions came into his head, even as much as when he swallowed the surprisingly warm liquid. But the most profound of what he tasted...he didn't like. Bitterness...as hate, a sweet yet tangy taste...as lust and gluttony, blandness...a sourness scorned only by the fortunate, and an unknown taste that he could not place. Richness, maybe? No, it seemed too...sour for that.

The person sighed tiredly, and in slight annoyance, washed his hands and walked slowly into his room. A sour expression was all over his face, almost as if he had drank a lemon before returning to his room.

This time was no good, either. He would hit a dead end, just like before.

* * *

The rays of the morning sunlight basked proudly against the window of a fourteen-year-old boy, one who squirmed restlessly under his bed. The heat was getting to him badly, but he didn't want to move. He wanted to sleep in his bed all day and watch as that horrible sun came up, and went right back down again. But...he knew that if he didn't move, his mother would _move him_.

"I hate school," he whined as he rolled out of bed and reached for the underarm deodorant that was sitting innocently across his table. He didn't want to take a shower; he took one at four in the morning. Taking one again would be too much. He could always just take it when he came home. The boy deprived himself of clothing to splatter a bit of the deodorant on his body, and then brushed his coffee tinted hair into a neat bunch on his head. No matter how hard he tried to keep his hair down and in order, it went right back up again.

He slipped on his uniform before grabbing his bag full of school materials and slipping out of his room. He felt his heart race as he proceeded to join his mother in the kitchen area. Slowly, he put a trembling hand to his chest, and clamped at his skin. Hard.

"Mom, what's today's date," the boy asked as he sat down at the table, eagerly waiting his breakfast meal. No matter how full he was, no matter how much he may have eaten before, he would always save some room for his mother's cooking. Her cooking was the best, after all.

"Oh, you're up early," Nana stated as she happily set down to give him his breakfast. "It is September 10. You remember what today is, right?"

"Yeah..." Tsuna's face took on a blank expression for a second. Yes, today was the day he dreaded. Today was the day that he hated with all of his heart, though he would be damned to show it. He didn't want to make his mom think _worse_ of him; god help him if he ever did that. She already worried too much for him, especially with the grades he had. He had everything from as low as a one to a thirty-two out of one-hundred on his test scores. The only thing that he did well in was lunch, and that was because he had the average amount of attendance. It wasn't because he was smart or anything. It was because he had good participation, that's all.

Nana coaxed him with: "Things will get better as time goes on, so don't look like that."

 _That_ being the somewhat sour expression on the boy's face as he suddenly got up from the table. He was upset, alright, but it had nothing to do with battling the first day of school.

"I...am going to check the mail," Tsuna mumbled as he walked out of the kitchen. He quickly replaced his inside shoes with outdoor ones, and made his way to the mailbox. It was an old, beat-up thing, and the blue paint was starting to peel off of it, but it was still usable, and the handle was still in very good condition. From all the mailboxes that he has seen, he knew _this one_ was the best. It didn't suddenly break on him, nor did it lock in place due to all the rust surrounding it. It was good and hardy, that mailbox.

Lifting up the cover, Tsuna came face-to-face with a white, manila letter. It was sealed with some sort of red insignia, and the boy had a sinking feeling that he knew exactly who sent it.

"..." He could feel the desperation and panic rising up in his throat like a volcano waiting to happen, and without so much as another thought did he rip the letter into a hundred shreds. He was half tempted to burn the silly thing, but he knew that the smoke would attract others and the burning paper would get people curious. Oh god, the last thing he needed was someone being _curious_.

He hurried back inside and closed the door, locking it tightly before slowly returning to the kitchen, where his eager mother was waiting. He could feel his heart beating in his chest at a rapid speed, and he idly wondered if it would beat so fast that it would come out of his chest. He could taste the _bdump bdump_ on his mouth, and hear the muffling cries that his heart made. He hoped that infant would look into the mailbox and somehow figure that they were the wrong party, because if not, they were screwed.

Correction: _he_ was screwed.

"Did anything come in the mail?"

"No," the brunette replied shakily as he sat down to eat the scrumptious food his mother so graciously made him. The delicate foods touched the back of his throat, and forcing down a bitter laugh, he smiled genuinely.

"This is good, mom."

"Is it? I wanted to try something new this time. I'm glad you like it."

"Yeah, but anything you make is good." They continued to eat, Nana occasionally asking her son questions and Tsuna dutifully answering them, when a knock was heard at the door. If his heart was beating fast before, now it pumped incredibly fast as the boy shot up out of his seat and gave his mother an attempt at a bright smile. It worked. But then again, it always did.

"I'll go see who it is. Don't worry about it." Nana only smiled at him, and quickly waved him off so he could answer it and come back. But Tsuna didn't want to go, and he didn't want to come back. He just...wanted to stay between everything. But he couldn't. So with a nervous gulp, the boy opened the door and immediately looked down.

What greeted him was a baby with a small fedora on his head, a chameleon hugging his shoulder, and a suit as if some rich mother wanted to dress up her baby in the most expensive clothes to attend a ceremony. It was ridiculous, indeed, but Tsuna knew it was far form that when it came to him.

"Chaos," he said, his voice slightly higher form the fact that he was younger than the boy. "I'm Reborn, your home tutor."

Now this was the time that he was waiting for.

"I'm sorry, but I think you might have the wrong household," Tsuna boldly announced, his voice not wavering. He could do this. He could make it. He could do this, and Reborn wouldn't come back. Not now, not ever.

"This is the Sawada family, correct?"

"No..."

But he didn't have a chance to say anything else; his mother wondered out there with her shoes, staring at Tsuna.

"Tsu-kun? What's taking you so long?" At once, he immediately cursed himself at his stupidity. Of course his mother would wonder why he was taking so long. This was a thirty-second affair, not a five minute one.

"Someone just got the wrong house," he quickly answered her as he cracked the door. "I'll be there in a second." He was about to turn back, but his mother started to walk towards him, a concerned look on her well-shaped face.

"Oh, but you're bad at directions. Let me at it."

"But-"

"Don't worry about it. Now don't you have to go to school?" School could wait. Breakfast could wait. Homework could wait. Hell, anything could wait. But if he didn't send Reborn away now, everything would be up to naught. No no no, not again. He had to do this. This would be the last time.

"School can wait, mom. I want to help him." But she refused adamantly, and he knew that if he didn't do something fast, something fast...

"Do you know where the Sawada household is? I thought it was here, because a letter was addressed to here, but-"

"There was no letter here," Nana cut in, giving the baby a quizzical look. "But this _is_ the Sawada household. What is it that you might need?"

"I'm the home tutor for Sawada Tsunayoshi," he declared, flicking his fedora upwards as he sometimes did. "Do you know who he might be or where he might be?" A flicker of recognition came into her eyes.

"Oh, you're talking about Tsu-kun, then!"

"I don't need a home tutor," the boy quickly bit out as he ran into the kitchen, grabbed his bag, and proceeded to run down the sidewalk. "Mom, can't you send him away?"

"You'll have better grades," Nana retorted as he ran down the street. "Don't be late!"

He could only wish that he were late. Because there was nothing more heart wrenching than knowing that things were going to fall into place again, and that things were going to go sour.

"You're a student of Namimori Middle, yes?" Reborn had caught up to him, and sat on his shoulder while Tsuna ran. "I can-"

"For your sake and mine," Tsuna suddenly stopped running and stared at the baby sitting on his shoulder, who stared back at him wide-eyed.

"Please leave me alone. I don't want to have anything to do with you." He placed the baby down again, and started to run. When he didn't hear tapping behind him, he assumed Reborn gave up and went ahead to badger him when got there. If there was anything he knew about the baby, he knew he was stubborn as hell. And there was no way that Reborn would give something up without a fight.

Maybe that's why Tsuna didn't freak out when he felt something crawling up his body.

"Didn't I tell you to leave me alone?"

"I don't give up easily," the Italian boy countered as he sat on Tsuna's shoulder. On one hand, Tsuna appreciated it. He could use the company, especially since he knew that when he got to school, he would be bullied. Again. He always was.

But on the other, he was panicked. He knew that he was screwed. The baby already found him—thanks to his mom—and he was on Reborn's radar as a 'student'. But honestly, _it_ would get worse if he didn't do something. Fast.

But he was all out of options and had no way to get rid of Reborn. After all, he did them all already.


	2. Part I: Chapter 2 - Persistence

**Body Parts**

 **Rating:** T+

 **Summary:** _Reborn glanced at the young teenager's face and watched the different expressions flit through his eyes: a combination of love, hate, sadness, bitterness, nostalgia, and finally one last look that he couldn't place. He stared a few more seconds to see if Tsuna would do anything, but his face didn't change. And for the first time in meeting his student, the cursed baby was perturbed that he couldn't understand a thing about him, not at all._

On behalf of the Ninth Vongola boss, Nono, Reborn was sent to Sawada Tsunayoshi to be his home tutor to teach him the ways of the mafia. Tsuna seemed average at first-in fact, below average if you consider his abysmal grades-but then he started to notice something strange about the boy. And it seemed that no matter how much he dug and pried, the answers would either dissipate into thin air, or would lead to a dead end, where he would be placed right where he started from.

Person A: Did you hear? Katekyo Hitman Reborn has a new owner!  
Person B: What, really? Since when?  
Person A: Since just this year. Some friends and I were talking about it. Their name is…Machillusion or something.  
Person B: You sure you're not talking about some random dude making fanfictions? Those are pretty popular too.  
Person A: No, no I swear. They're the new author of KHR!  
Person B: *looks on the internet* Nope. It's still the same Amano Akira we know. Don't scare me like that.  
Person A: Oh…whoops?

Disclaimer: In other words, I don't own it. Probably never will. XD

A/N: I appreciate the feedback I've been getting. I find it extremely funny that just like with my first set of fanfics, I get a lot of follows and favorites but not as many reviews. But still! Thank you everyone for reading and either reviewing, following, or favoring. I will try my best to meet your expectations. I also wanted to let y'all know that I'm **not** writing smut for this story after all. So the rating will more or less stay the same. There will be **gore** though, so please keep that in mind. There also is **OOC** , so be aware of that.

(Edit: To be honest, I feel kind of unmotivated for this chapter. I have working so hard on the juicy parts in the future that I don't have any motivation for the intro. If it sucks, tell me so, so I can rewrite it. Thanks!)

Enjoy!

* * *

Part I: That which is and was

Tsuna figured Reborn was around there somewhere. Maybe he was in a cupboard or something. Or maybe he was hiding in the ceiling and poked a hole through one of the tiles. That _was_ one of his favorite places to hide, after all.

After Reborn had a feel for what Tsuna's life was like, he would then make his little hide-outs around campus in a somewhat futile effort to watch his student. It was so pathetic how Reborn made hide-outs in the same exact places every single time. But once in a while, Reborn would do something different, which would give Tsuna a little bit of hope for the future.

Sadly, this was not one of those times.

Tsuna was sitting in class—though to be honest, he really couldn't pay attention no matter _how_ hard he tried; it was just too boring and dull—listening to one of many of his useless teachers blabbing about something with imaginary numbers, a concept that he both thoroughly understood and yet couldn't comprehend at all. He memorized it all: the formulas, the usage, even what imaginary numbers were, but he couldn't understand the concept of imaginary numbers. If he was given a fresh, new question on it, he was sure that he would fail. But then again, he was coming to school in the middle of a semester. It was no wonder he couldn't understand it.

The teacher called on him to answer a question, and Tsuna, knowing full well that the teacher was aiming to make him into a laughing stock—because really, part of the reason why he was always bullied in the first place was because the teachers were too incompetent to stop it or even had the heart to _want_ to stop it—wrote the wrong answer on the board rather hesitantly. The teacher, a portly and balding man by the name of Nakamura, cackled obnoxiously and pointed at his answer.

"How could you get that wrong, Sawada?! We've done these types of problems _at least_ eight times in the last week!"

Tsuna allowed a flush of shame to flood his face, and he quickly sat down, but not without taking a glance at Kyoko to see how her reaction was. Everyone else was laughing as the teacher erased his answer off the board, and, with a little more energy then what was really needed, thoroughly explained the question—but not without throwing a few jabs at how stupid Tsuna was—but Kyoko seemed rather sullen that he was being made fun of so publicly like that, and he felt his heart go out for her for what seemed like the thousandth time. Kyoko, while sometimes oblivious to things, had such a sweet soul, and no matter how much time passed for him, he couldn't get rid of his little infatuation for her. It wasn't quite love, but it was adoration. Maybe even a little bit of admiration. And he knew that he could never get with her, that the two of them were so completely different, but sometimes he couldn't help but dream about a future with the two of them every so often.

The class ended without another guffawing outburst, and Tsuna slowly made his way, lunchbox in tow, to the rooftop. He sat down and sighed; eating alone was never fun. But it's not as if he had any friends, and to be honest, he didn't want to make friends this time. Reborn was more than enough. And if Reborn had his druthers, he would _force_ Tsuna to make friends.

Geez, this is part of the reason why he didn't want Reborn around. He could be so persistent. And yeah, it was his mission to make Tsuna into a mafia boss, but no matter how many times he told Reborn he didn't want to do it, Reborn would always point that stupid green chameleon in his face and gruffly inform him (how funny was that? A _baby_ gruffly informing him, a _baby_ …) that he never really had a say in the matter, that it was his duty to do it no matter what. And sometimes, Tsuna wanted to slug Reborn in the face despite him being a baby, because no matter how much his pride was stomped on, he didn't want to be ordered around by a _baby_ of all things, but most times, between his "fear" and that look that Reborn had in his eyes, those eyes that gently reminded Tsuna of _him_ , he could never quite say "no." Even if he wanted to. And he really did.

As Tsuna was about to take a bite of his food, he felt something slap roughly across his face, enough that normally, he would be balling out in pain, but now, simply tilted his cheek to the side. But still, he was _supposed_ to be crying out in pain. He turned to Reborn, who was standing there with a rather irritated expression on his face.

"Reborn! What was that for?!"

"What was that pathetic excuse of an answer back in the classroom?" Ah. That was why he was mad. Well, that makes sense, but…Reborn should have known this.

"I'm not good in math, it can't be helped."

"Not that, No-Good Tsuna. You didn't even _try_ to answer the question. And don't tell me that you did, because I'll hit you even harder than I did just now."

"I did try! And how did you find out about my nickname anyways?" Reborn cocked his head toward him, a little more irritated than before. He started to say something but Tsuna cut him off, not really caring one way or another. He just wanted to eat in peace, and although he knew this would happen, it was annoying nonetheless.

"At any rate, you have no right accusing me of something I didn't do. I tried, I'm just not good at—" Reborn transformed Leon into a hammer and thrust it in Tsuna's face.

"Didn't I tell you not to lie to me? I can tell the difference of someone who isn't trying and someone who is. I'm seriously going to hurt you, No-Good Tsuna."

"Why are you even bothering me about this anyways? In fact, why are you even here? I thought I told you to leave me alone earlier."

"And I thought I told you that I don't give up easily. Are you going to continue to fight me on this, No-Good Tsuna?" He raised his hammer in warning, and Tsuna backed off, almost tipping over the lunch box his mother made for him. He glanced over his food and then he raised his hands in surrender.

"Okay, okay! I get it! I'm sorry, okay?" Reborn also glanced at the food and then he plopped next to him.

"As long as you understand. If you don't have motivation for _this_ , then you won't have motivation for your family either." Tsuna scrunched his eyes a little and then cocked his head.

"My mom has enough motivation for the both of us. Why would I need to have motivation for her?" The baby looked as if he wanted to insult Tsuna, but held back.

"Not _that_ family. Your mafia family." Tsuna knew this. He was kind of hoping that Reborn wouldn't say that. But of course he did. Why wouldn't he? That's the sole reason why he was here in the first place: to make Tsuna into a mafia boss.

"I don't want to be a part of the mafia! I don't know how many times I have to—"

"You're going to be the leader, no matter what. Stop arguing with me about it; it's going to happen whether you like it or not." Reborn glanced at his food again, and then at the sun. "Aren't you going to eat? Your break is almost over, you know." Tsuna had almost forgotten about his food.

"Oh, right." He picked up his chopsticks and ate his rice, and with a very bitter laugh, he continued to chew.

"Why do you look as if something died in your mouth? It doesn't taste good?" Tsuna had to swallow a bit too hard, but he made the food reach down his throat and into his stomach. He told Reborn that it tasted good, but seeing the very sour look on Tsuna's face, took some for himself. The food was delicious; Reborn couldn't see a problem with it.

"It's not the food," Tsuna breathed. He took one more bite and then offered it to Reborn, who thought about eating it, but declined.

"It's your food that your mother made for you. You should eat it." Tsuna nodded and then continued to eat. He wanted to spit it out so badly, but he couldn't. At least, not in front of Reborn. Chances are, the food that Nana made scored some sort of point with Reborn. Spitting it out would make Reborn angry and…augh, he didn't want to think about how many ways Reborn would try to make him bleed for spitting out Nana's food. He managed to eat it all in time before his break ended, and then he quickly packed his lunchbox into his bag and ran for it. He didn't feel that Reborn followed him, which was good. He probably wouldn't like what he was about to do.

Stumbling into a bathroom stall, he planted two hands firmly against the toilet seat and vomited. He kept regurgitating over and over again, so much that his throat grew hoarse. He kept coughing and coughing and soon he just sat on the cold floor, a little bit of bile falling from his mouth. He knew this would happen, but it still shocked him anyways.

He couldn't digest his food. He had no digestive system to work with.

* * *

He stumbled out of the classroom an hour and a half later. The lecture on chemical bonds was so boring that he started to sleep a little. He knew Reborn was watching him from some hole of his, but after vomiting, all of his strength sapped away and he was left a rather confused and dizzy mess. Whoever said that eating too much was bad was a complete liar. Eating a lot keeps your strength up and keeps you awake. At least, that's what Tsuna thought.

As he watched his classmates peel out in pairs and groups, Tsuna dusted a little bit of imaginary lint off of his pants and left, his schoolbag in hand. It didn't matter how many times he saw it; seeing people be so friendly with everyone but himself stung a little. He should be used to this by now—it's been happening since he was younger—but for some reason, he still felt a pang of jealousy whenever he saw people being so chummy with each other. That nagging thought that he tried to push from the back of his head, " _Why couldn't_ I _be normal enough to have a friend or two?"_ kept stirring around, aimlessly poking at his conscious until he snapped out of it and started to head home.

That is, until he saw who was waiting for him outside.

"Hey, it's No-Good Tsuna! Finally sick of skipping school?" He didn't bother explain to them that he _didn't_ skip school, that he knew school started in April and yet it was his first day in September, a full five months past when he should have come, that it was due to extenuating circumstances why things were like this (would they even know what that meant? Probably not), but he didn't say anything and instead wobbled away. He wasn't in the mood to be bullied today. If he ignored them, they should leave him alone after a while…

"Hey! Are you listening to me, you piece of shit?!"

"He doesn't understand, Hiro-san. He's too stupid to understand."

 _Just ignore them…_

"Then we ought to make him understand. Stupid kids need to be taught a lesson physically."

 _Just ignore them…_

"Alright! That's the spirit!" One of them grabbed onto Tsuna's shoulder and tugged, hard enough for Tsuna to drop his bag and thump into the window. The students that were in the halls were just watching, almost as if it was some television show, but no one reached out to help him. Like always.

 _Just ignore…_

"You dare show your pathetic ass here? You're stinking up the air with just your presence. Hurry and get the fuck out of here, you useless piece of trash!" The student named Hiro, a tall, long-faced man with a slight Kansai accent—he _did_ just transfer into their school a few years ago—kicked Tsuna in the shin. It wasn't enough to make Tsuna cry out in pain—there was only one man who could do that, and he wasn't around right now—but it hurt. A lot. He felt the area start to swell and he wondered how long he could ignore them.

 _Just…_

"Hurry up and go back to where you came from!" With that, he punched Tsuna so hard that the window shattered. Screams echoed the hallways, and everyone froze, almost like pausing a video game. Still, no one reached out to help him. The two students smirked in satisfaction, but Tsuna couldn't take it anymore. He had never done it before this, but he was so tired of it. So tired of the bullying. So tired of being alone. So tired of having to deal with something so small, so insignificant. So tired of having to entertain the same scenes over and over again, when there was _so much more_ that he had to do. So tired of having to deal with these two imps that thought they were better than him, when in actuality it was the other way around. If he wanted to, he could have killed them in a second. But he always chose not to because he didn't need another death on his conscious. He just wanted to live. Was that so wrong?

 _I can't take this anymore._

He waited, waited until they came close, and then he walked around them. Blood was dripping from his head and his left eye was glued shut from said blood, but he was determined. He would make an example out of these two, and then no one else would bother him. He could live in peace when everyone was scared of him, and even if Reborn wanted to make him get guardians for the Vongola family, it wouldn't work because everyone would be too scared for their own lives to be friends with him. It was perfect.

"What, you gonna run away, you chicken? You're such a wuss, running away is perfect for someone like you!" The other student, a bitter, sharp-tongued student named Kai, grabbed Tsuna by the arm and thrusted him at Hiro so Hiro could kick him, but Tsuna used that momentum to push Hiro out of the window. His Will put that much more force on him, and Hiro's body slipped through the cracked pieces in the window, slicing his skin in the process. He fell from three stories up and hit the ground hard with a sickening crack. His head was lolled to the side, and blood was all over the front of his uniform. His right arm was bent too much to the left, and something—Tsuna didn't really want to know what—wedged itself into his stomach. A piercing scream filled the campus, and everyone ran to the window to see if he was okay, but Tsuna only stumbled away, knowing that at the very least, he would live for a few more minutes. It was up to the people around him to save Hiro, but he didn't kill Hiro.

That, more than anything, made Tsuna feel a bit better about everything. He got his revenge without killing someone.

Later, he found out that Reborn had saved him from being charged with a criminal offense. The students that had watched the whole fight accused Tsuna of not only instigating it, but also pushing Hiro out of the window. Well, he _had_ pushed Hiro out of the window, but he didn't instigate it, and technically it wasn't his fault. He only pushed Hiro out of the window because Kai pushed him at Hiro, who was going to kick him. But Reborn, who had also been there the whole time, recorded it and showed it to the principal and the police. Knowing that Reborn was a good source (who knows what Reborn dressed up as this time), they not only believed him, but they also punished the other two with suspension and possible juvenile detention. He owed Reborn a lot. But honestly, juvenile detention didn't sound so bad. The only problem was that Reborn would probably pay to get him out, smack the crap out of him, and then train him to become a proper mafia boss even harder. He would have rather this than _that_.

When Reborn finally arrived at Tsuna's house and Tsuna met him upstairs (Nana didn't really ask questions since she didn't notice his bruise, and Tsuna didn't point it out), Tsuna hesitantly thanked him.

"Thanks, Reborn." Reborn only spared him a side glance before he continued to look at some of Tsuna's test scores.

"For what? I didn't do anything worth thanking for." He shuffled a little bit on the bed.

"You helped me out. I heard they would have charged me with a criminal offense." The baby scoffed.

"It's not like you did anything wrong. Besides, I'm your tutor. It's my job to help you." Tsuna felt a little uplifted by that. Because of the actions that Tsuna did, Reborn not only thought a little better of him—actually, did he? Tsuna couldn't tell—but things were different now. Maybe he could…

"If you're thinking that just because I helped you that I won't train you to become a mafia boss, you're dead wrong, Tsuna."

Oh. Well there goes that plan. At the very least, he changed things up a bit more. Tsuna was sure that with a little bit of time, he could convince Reborn _not_ to train him to become a mafia boss. These last two days was proof of that, for sure.

* * *

A/N: Cut me a bit of slack; I haven't written in two years...I didn't graphically describe the vomiting and Hiro's injury. I figured since this was a T+ fanfic, the description might be a bit much. Also, Tsuna is going to be OOC. I know some of you are kind of hell-bent on Tsuna being in character, and I will try my best to keep it as close to being in character as I can, but after a while that's going to be impossible. As of now, he probably seems out of character to some of you. He's not scared enough, he's not kind enough, he's too cold-hearted…you'll know why he's like that later on in the story.

Augh, it's four in the morning. I promised y'all a chapter so I spat this out but I have no idea how good it is until I read it in the morning. So if there's any errors or just anything that you don't like (or like), please let me know. I would love to hear and see your feedback, no matter what form it may be. Heck, even PMs are cool in my book.

And I think it's funny in a weird way: Tsuna wants to have friends so he won't be alone, but he doesn't want friends at the same time. (No, that was not a mistake, I really intended to write that XD) I guess I can explain that here since I won't in the story: Tsuna wants to be with people, but he doesn't want to make friends because he knows that Reborn will add them into the family. So permanently alienating himself was the best way to _not_ make friends (as well as getting his revenge), which is partially why he decided to indirectly attack random "once-in-a-story" character Hiro.


	3. Relief

**Body Parts**

Disclaimer: Once upon a time, Machillusion owned Katekyo Hitman Reborn. Except, she never did. Amano Akira did. XD

Rating: T+

Warnings: definite OOC (I'm sorry…), language (?)

Chapter Summary: Where there is a somewhat interesting flashback and Tsuna feels oddly at ease after battling with himself and Reborn. No action here, sorry. Gotta wait two more chapters, so feel free to skip this chapter and wait until then.

A/R: Seeing your guys' reviews, follows and favs, it fills me up with "DETERMINATION" (seriously, this thing edited Determination twice lol) . 8D So thanks. Apparently, for this chapter, I didn't put enough detail in my outline on how I wanted this chapter to be. So I wrote this chapter over at least four times. I wish I was only kidding, haha. Hopefully next chapter will be smoother. Anyways. Thanks for reading, reviewing, following, or favoring. I appreciate all forms of support, even unintentional ones. Oh yes, by the way, did you know that Haikyuu has over 33k fanfictions in Archives of Our Own?! I look here and FF barely has 6k, wtf? XD Either FF is becoming less popular or Haikyuu isn't so popular here or something…but sheesh…5x more fanfics? That's crazy.

God these glasses keep sliding off my face and giving me a headache…I wash them and my face so many times and nada. It's so annoying. Anyways. Enjoy!

Edit: I changed some things again…I just can't be happy with the chapter. Actually, I'm disgusted with this chapter. I feel like I don't add enough detail, but I don't know _where_ the detail is lacking and it pisses me off.

* * *

 _He was fingering idly with the new toy Dino gave him._

 _Dino often traveled around the world, being that he was a mafia boss and all, and he often came across the strangest things. At one time, he had come across a singing fountain—who the hell even invented that thing?—and at another he came across an automatically growing cape. When it was cold, it would grow, and when it was hot, it shred its skin. He was pretty sure that the inventor had a cat or a dog's fur in mind when making it._

 _This little thing wasn't as eccentric, but it sure as hell was unique._

 _It was an electric gun, a computerized gun, really. It had a tiny chip for a motherboard and it had a solar-powered energy source. But the best of all was that it automatically absorbed and fired off cloud-type bullets. It was a bit different than the Second's weapon; his was a regular gun that was accustomed to firing off sky bullets. But this thing, it did it all on its own. All he had to do was point at a target and pour flames into it and it would do all the work itself. It was pretty neat, actually, and it was probably one of the most useful things that Dino brought for him that he didn't immediately throw in the garbage._

 _He leaned on his desk further, quite restless from not being able to sleep, when he saw a feather float and land on his desk. Immediately, he stiffened._

" _What is it that you could_ possibly _want from me this time of the night?" A small chuckle tumbled through the air and all of a sudden, he saw a white-haired man with wings watching him with a small hint of a smile across his lips._

" _That's so cruel of you to say. What, you don't like my company?" The person leaned back into his desk, irritated._

" _Not at twelve at night, I don't."_

" _Even if I have information for you?"_

"…" _He waited for Byakuran to continue. But when he said nothing and simply cocked his head in a somewhat mocking gesture, he sighed and motioned to the wooden chair in front of him. With another laugh, Byakuran sat down, and after eyeing the gun that the person was just playing with, he picked it up and began fingering it himself. The machine turned on, and while it didn't register Byakuran, it registered the flames within him._

" _This is a pretty interesting thing. Cavallone cater it to you?" The person glanced at him, and then resumed back to the sluggish position over the desk he had before Byakuran flew in on him._

" _I wouldn't call it catering. It was brand new and Bronco gave it to me first. So I registered my flames with it. You're lucky it's not shutting down on you."_

" _Probably because I have your flames mixed in with mine." At that, the person huffed and straightened himself._

" _So, what's the information you have?" Byakuran snickered at the poor diversion and placed the gun on the person's desk._

" _I found a good one. It's a few breaths from here to the west, but I'd say it's pretty stable. You might have a chance in that one."_

" _That's what you always say. And then things don't work out and we're back to square one." If Byakuran was put-off, he didn't show it. He simply smiled the way he always did when something amused him and placed his chin on his hand._

" _It's not exactly easy to do this, you know. And the requirements you give me aren't that easy to fulfill. Not to mention that I'm supposed to be killing you right now. So do you_ really _have a right to complain?" At that, the boy couldn't really say anything._

 _Begrudgingly, the person admitted Byakuran was right. If Byakuran was cruel, he could have used this as a moment of weakness and killed him ten, no, one hundred times over. Byakuran being this considerate really wasn't characteristic of him, even if he did it just to see how things would turn out. In that sense, he supposed he should be thanking Byakuran for cooperating with him, especially since there weren't that many people who_ could _even help him. So instead, he thanked him and started asking about that place._

" _So, how stable is it compared to here…?"_

* * *

Reborn was on his shoulder again.

No matter how many times he told Reborn that no, he didn't want to become a mafia boss and he wouldn't listen to him no matter what, Reborn stubbornly stuck around, saying that it wasn't his choice to make. Instinctively, he knew that _nothing_ was his choice to make. Not meeting Reborn, not having these flames and certainly not these circumstances. It was always, _always_ in the hands of Fate. But that didn't mean that he wouldn't try to fight back.

"First off," Tsuna started as they walked past Namimori Park, "if it's dependent on who is in our family, I'm sure I am not the only Sawada there is. How about you find someone else to tutor instead?"

"They are already being tutored. And so are you."

"And why do you think I want to be a criminal? Who just goes up to someone and says, 'Hi, it's nice to meet you, you're going to become a mafia boss today?'" At that, Reborn did a little huff as he adjusted his body on Tsuna's shoulder. His hair tickled Tsuna's cheek a bit, and Tsuna swatted it away lightly.

"Becoming a mafia boss doesn't necessarily mean you become a criminal." Tsuna stopped walking and did a double take. Being a mafia boss wasn't being a criminal? That was probably the funniest joke that he heard today. Well, that wasn't saying much. It was the first joke he's heard today after all. He tried to calm himself, but he failed miserably as he ended up yelling at Reborn. Just the crap that Reborn was pulling out his ass to make Tsuna agree to become a mafia boss—which would be never, sadly, even if he did help him two days ago—was so ridiculous it was almost sad, if only Tsuna could laugh at his antics.

"You're killing people! Of course you'd become a—"

"And so do police officers. So does the military. The only differences between criminals and 'heros' are who you're killing for and the reason you're killing the person. When a police officer kills a person, does it make the action of killing right? Most people would say 'yes' because they're doing it to help society. Then what about you? You could become a mafia boss to help society. In fact, that's what I'm _training you for_. Now stop whining and keep walking."

Tsuna didn't really have a really have a good retort for that. What could he say to that? No, Vongola isn't good? He knows their blood-soaked past, so that would never happen? That Tsuna has seen the future of Vongola, and that it would still be tragic, just like their past? That would raise more questions and chances are, Reborn would know for sure that something was wrong. And despite their close relationship in the future, he knew that at this moment, Reborn would not hesitate to torture him for answers, quite literally.

Instead, he tried a different approach. "Have you ever tutored anyone else besides me?"

Sadly, Reborn already knew where he was going with this. "Why do you ask?"

"Just curious."

"You'll meet him soon, I'm sure. And no, he can't take your job. He has his own family to tend to." It would have been futile to keep fighting him on it, so he simply let the conversation fade into silence. The two of them walked on, past the local run-down bank that Tsuna used to play by when he was younger, past the market center that his mother shopped at almost religiously, and past the arcade center that he never got a chance to look inside of because he had no one to go in with, and it would look incredibly stupid if he went into an arcade center all by himself. As he got closer to his school, Reborn noticed that some of the students from Tsuna's class glance in his direction and hurry on when they saw that Tsuna was near them, but Tsuna didn't really pay attention to them. He was more worried about how he would protect himself this time without hurting someone. No matter what, he didn't want a repeat of two days ago.

When the two of them were in front of the school, Reborn hopped off his shoulder and immediately started walking to the back of the school. Tsuna had half of a mind to call him back for some sort of comfort or something, but he figured that Reborn was going to observe his actions now to see how he operated under stress. To be honest, the brunette wanted to smack the baby for that—seriously, couldn't he been at least a _little_ sympathetic?—but he knew that wasn't the way Reborn worked. He used every situation to his advantage, and this was no exception. Yeah, he may have helped Tsuna, but he knew he only did it so he could tutor him, not because he cared.

Tsuna walked through the hallways and he noticed something was terribly wrong. No, it wasn't the smell of bleach and pine, although that in itself was pretty bad. The smell of pine was heavenly, a soft scent that reminded him of the blocks and blocks of wood that his father sometimes brought home as a "souvenir". The bleach, on the other hand, was pungent and strong; it overpowered most of the other scents in the school, which is most likely why the windows were left open in the middle of fall. But that wasn't what was throwing Tsuna so off balanced. What was throwing Tsuna for a loop was the students.

All of the students were paving a way for him as he walked by.

* * *

Tsuna had never experienced such tranquility before.

Even when things ended and he had that moment of peace, it was nothing compared to this. There was always a nagging feeling in his mind, that feeling that said he had to go back, that he had to fix his mistakes or else everyone else would suffer the consequences, the consequences that _he_ caused, that _he_ dragged them into. And then there would be another part of his mind that would crave to just _live_ , to simply forget about his friends and to find a way to happiness on his own. With a somewhat reluctant heart, he would right everything again, and then the cycle would repeat. All through that process, he would feel a niggling of despair twisting itself in his heart.

But now, now he was at peace. All of the students that usually picked on him instead avoided him out of fear of what would happen to them, and for the first time since he went to school, he actually felt sure of himself. He wondered if this is what dictators felt when he realized that his subject feared him. This calmness, this superiority, it felt so _wonderful_. After so, so long of people treating him like he was lower than the gum that was smeared under their foot, now they feared him and he wanted more of it.

 _No. This isn't right._

He couldn't think like this; that was how he became tainted last time.

Breathing in and out slowly, Tsuna focused his mind on the classroom. On his classmates. What were they talking about?

"Did you hear what Cursed-Tsuna did?" Oh. Was that his new name? He was kind of flattered, especially since it was true.

"Yeah, I saw it a few days ago. He cursed Hiro-kun and he almost died."

"What? Are you serious? We'd better stay away from him; I don't want to get cursed either…"

That suited him just fine. He could actually have a quiet life like he's been craving all this time. And what's better, it would be much harder for Reborn to find him guardians if the whole school was afraid of him. Because really, most of his guardians came from his school: Hibari, his cloud guardian, Gokudera, his storm guardian, Ryohei, his sun guardian, and Yamamoto, his rain guardian, they all came from his school. That would be four less guardians that he could deal with if this all worked out.

After a while, the class started, and Tsuna leaned a little on his hand, not trying at all to pay attention. And why should he? There was no need for it when Tsuna wasn't good at studies to begin with. What's better, when the teacher called on him— _like always_ —and Tsuna got the answer wrong— _like always_ —and the teacher laughed— _like always_ —no one laughed with him. They were all so deathly afraid of something that wouldn't even happen in the first place.

Tsuna just ignored them all and sat back down. He finally had the life of peace that he wanted. Once the teacher realized that no one else was laughing with him he would eventually stop.

He did stop, after a while. He continued with the lesson, and eventually Tsuna dozed off to sleep. It made no sense to listen to the lecture; it wasn't as if it would help him anyhow. He heard the bells alarm several times, but in his fatigue, he only lifted his head a little before thumping his cheek back on his desk. He slept through the entire day without anyone waking him up until Reborn wacked him in the head after school ended.

"Get up. Don't you have any shame, No-Good Tsuna?" Tsuna's head throbbed, but he sleepily sat up from his chair. Slowly, after cracking his back rather noisily, he began to pack his books into his school bag, trying hard to avoid the glare that Reborn was stabbing his direction.

"That hurt, Reborn…and please don't call me that. Everyone calls me Cursed-Tsuna now." The baby scoffed.

"As far as I'm concerned, you're No-Good until you prove to me otherwise." Tsuna finished packing up the rest of his books and glanced at outside. It was already sunset, and there was a soft sound of the remaining of cicadas that hadn't died from the season change. He cracked his back again as he turned to Reborn, double checking that he had everything simultaneously.

"That'll be close to never. I'm not sure if you've noticed, but I'm not exactly the brightest bulb out there. Trying to force me to become a good student is almost as bad as trying to force a rabbit not to chew on something." Reborn sneered a bit at Tsuna's negativity. He forgot that Reborn couldn't deal with wimps. It was probably the reason he tortured Tsuna so bloody much originally.

"You don't know until you try. And don't tell me that you've been trying. You haven't been." Tsuna sighed as he left the classroom. No one was in the hallways; it was deserted and a lot of the over-head lights were turned off. He wondered how long Reborn let him sleep for. From the looks of it, it had to have been at least two hours or so. Then…was he waiting for him to wake up all of that time?

Tsuna arrived at his locker and stumbling around a bit. He retrieved his dirty and tattered shoes and slipped them on. After a moment of thought, he asked, "What's the sense of trying? I won't get it anyways."

"Say that again, and I might not hold back next time."

The two of them were almost home after a long walk of silence when Reborn suddenly spoke up again.

"You need to make friends, you know. It's not healthy to be by yourself all this time."

"I've been fine all this time," Tsuna retorted. He knew why Reborn was doing this, and he wouldn't play along with him. If his classmates wanted to be afraid of him, let them be afraid. He wasn't going to attempt to be cordial with them so they could turn into his guardians. He would be digging himself into a hole that he wouldn't be able to get out of, and all he would have to blame for it would be himself.

Too bad Reborn wasn't going to listen to him. As always.

"Oh, did I make it sound like a suggestion? That was an order. You're going to make friends, whether you like it or not." He knew it. And since when did Reborn order him to do something? Even if they were going to be with each other for a while, Reborn didn't really have a right to order him to do anything…but just because he didn't have a right didn't mean he wasn't going to order him. And Tsuna would most likely listen regardless even if he didn't want to. As it was, he tried to get rid of him in the beginning, but because of his tenacity, he more or less was a part of the family now. In two days. Unfortunately.

"How am I going to do that? Everyone is afraid of me in school." When Reborn smirked, he had a feeling he knew exactly what he was going to say.

"Oh, that's simple. A transfer student is going to be coming in a week or so. You can start with him." Great. Tsuna knew that Reborn was going to use Gokudera as a catalyst to get more guardians. So now the question was…

…how does he stop Gokudera from befriending him from now?

* * *

A/N: I don't know why, but I have the shitty habit of finishing chapters super late at night. Anyways. I thought this chapter sucked, except for the beginning. And really, it's my fault. I didn't plan at all in the beginning. The first three chapters are kind of duds; I used short descriptions where I am supposed to fill in the blanks that I don't mention in the basic plot of the chapter, while chapter five and on I become more descriptive with what I want. So if you think this chapter is cringe-worthy, it should get better in a bit.

Next chapter is going to be from Yamamoto's point of view. I found it interesting that canon-wise, Yamamoto was the guardian Reborn trusted the most, besides Tsuna. I decided to capitalize that, so a few chapters are going to be from his point of view. Tsuna's point of view starts back up in chapter five, and that's where the first part of this story, "That which is and was", or plainly, "the introduction", ends. So things should pick up from there, thank god.

Even though this chapter might have been crappy, I still do hope you enjoyed it.

Edit: Hope the tiny changes I made helped the writing to be a bit more bearable…I don't know why I can't just…augh I give up. -.-


End file.
